BERLIN (AP) – Photos of Germany’s national soccer team on packages of a popular chocolate brand have prompted online outrage among Germany’s far right because they include childhood pictures of players of migrant origin.
Candymaker Ferrero swapped the usual blond boy on its ‘Kinder’ bars ahead of this summer’s European Championships for photos of German players as children. Among them are Jerome Boateng, whose father is from Ghana, and Ilkay Gundogan, whose parents are Turkish.
A regional branch of the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement asked on Facebook “Is this a joke?” Other commenters expressed outrage Wednesday and threatened boycotts.
Tommy Frenck, the owner of a restaurant catering to the far right, said on Facebook the pictures “make it very easy give up chocolate” and urged a boycott “until marketing bosses have come to their senses.”